7^3 3 



/-^ 



-_^ 



3i^' 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



015 835 895 5 « 



F 1233 
.G315 
Copy 1 



m:exioo tvo. s 



GENERAL GONZALEZ ORTEGA 



AND HIS NINE ENDORSERS 



VEESU9 



THE MEXICAN REPUBLIC 



AND THE 



CO^^STITUTIOXAL PRESIDENT 



OF ITS UNANIMOUS CHOICE. 



^V^ITH A-N ^I^2:*li:]SrDIX 



CONTAINING ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTS. 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY LEMUEL TOWERS. 

1866, 



MIEXICO- IVo. S. 



GENERAL GONZALES ORTEGA 

AND HIS NINE ENDORSERS 

VERSUS 

THE ]VEEXIOA.ISr NATION 

AND THE 

CONSTITUTIONAL PRESIDENT 

OF ITS UNANIMOUS CHOICE. 



WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAININa ACCOMPANYING 
DOCUMENTS. 



A pamphlet in English, intended for circulation in the Uni' 
ted States and prominently pnt forward wirliin a few days, 
has been issued by a Mexican General, Jesus Gonzales Ortega, 
a pretender to the Presidency of Mexico. 

In Mexico, where, if any where, such an appeal is in place, 
scarcelj'^ a word, in reply to it, would be needed ; for public 
opinion there, with a unanimity far greater even than that 
which re-elected Abraliam Lincoln President of the United 
States, has already decided the question beyond recall. 

Negative proof of this, of itself conclusive, is aiForded by 
the pamphlet itself. 

It contains, as appendix, what Ortega, in the title, calls 
"Letters in ratification of liis position." He had seven months 
to collect these. They are spread over twenty-six pages. 

WHO ARE Ortega's endorsers ? 

How many of these letters are from Mexican officials ? 
Not one. How maoj are written from Mexico at all? Not 



one. How many are there in all ? IsTine ; four written from 
Texas and live from New York. Who are the writers? Two 
are ex-governors of States ; two ex-brigadier generals ; one 
ex postmaster general ; one ex-colonel ; every one of them 
disaffected 6'C-otlicials, absent from their native country in her 
hour of danger and suffering. Th?-ee more make the list of 
Ortega's endorsers ; o::e an ex-editor and two others whom 
nobody knows. 

Nine malcontent refugees! He omitted, on his muster 
roll, one additional supporter, wliose name should have been 
the tenth; Manuel Ruiz, formerly Acting Minister of Justice, 
who, in November last, declared for Ortega and in December 
went over to the French. {House Ex. Doc.^ No. 73, 1866, 
pari 2, p. 40. 

THE VOICE OF THE MEXICAN NATION. 

How, meanwiiile, during these seven months, has the an- 
nouncement of Juarez' extension of term, necessitated by 
French intervention, been received? Jubihuitly ; by accla- 
mation. The details would fill a volume. The Governor of 
the State of Yera Cruz, Alejandro Garcia, second in command 
of the Eastern Division of the Mexican Republic, in sending on 
(as early as February last) manifestoes from seventeen towns 
within his state, says: The letters already received on this 
subject are too voluminous to be sent." (House Ex. Doc, 
1866, yart 2, faga 52.) The manifestoes referred to (pp. ^^ 
to 63) exhibit in brief and simple phrase, the enthusiasm of 
the people. 

There has been throughout the entire nation, whether as 
regards officials or municipal bodies or public men, no ex- 
ception. Not a Governor of a State., not a town or a city un- 
der native rule., hat has declared for the continuance., in 
his present position., of President Juarez. Nay more, not a 
Mexican citizen, resident in Mexico, has., in -puMic harangue 
or in printed communication^ expressed disapprobation of the 
extension of Juarez' term of office., or given in his adhesion to 
General Ortega. AVe might search in vain, throughout mod- 
ern history, fur a parallel example of national unanimity. 



PROOFS. 

So far as proof of these statements can be supplied without 
swelling this painplilet beyond reasonable limits, it will be 
found in an Appendix. Letters are there given from every 
governor, now acting as such, within the Kepnblic of Mexico, 
from distinguished officers now in the field and from public 
men; all approving the action ot Juarez in prolonging his 
Presidency during the war. Several of the towns went fariher 
than this, adding an expression of their earnest desire that 
Juarez should be elected President for a second term, after the 
present war is over. 

MEXICAN SENTIMENT IN CALIFORNIA. 

But it is not to the country over which Juarez' jurisdiction 
extends, that the confidence reposed in him by his country- 
men is restricted. California attracts Mexicans in largo 
numbers, and from that country also comes to us, through 
loyal associations and otherwise, a concurrent meed of appro- 
bation, lu the Congressional Document already quoted (pp. 
48 to 48) examples will be found. The Patriotic Mexican 
Clubs of San Fj-ancisco, of Sacramento, of Virginia city, and 
others, by add; esses numerously signed, testify, in thestrongeet 
terms, their approval of Juarez' course. Is there among 
these hundreds, one voice for Ortega ? No. Of his corporal's 
guard of nine, not one hails from the shores of the Pacific. 

Here these remarks might terminate ; for the question is a 
domestic one, as to which Mexicans are the sdIc arbiters. 
But it may interest some readers, briefly to inquire whether 
the popular verdict is as just as it has been unanimous. 

CONSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENT. 

The articles of the Mexican Constitution upon which 
Ortega's pretentions are based, will be found in House Exec- 
utive Document, 1862, No. 100, at page 148, as follows: 

Art. 79. In temporary default of a President of the Ke- 
public, and in the vacancy before the installation of the newly 
elected, the President of the Supreme Court of Justice shall 
enter upon the exercise of the functions of President. 



6 

Art. 80. If the default of President be absolute, a new 
election sliall be pmoeeded with, according to the provisions 
of Ai'ticle 76, and the one so elected shall exercise his func- 
tions, until the last day of November of the fourth year fol- 
lowing his election. 

Art. 82 If, from whatever reason, the election of President 
shall nor have been made and published by the first of De- 
cember, upon which the change is to take place, or if the 
newly elected is not able to enter promptly npfui the exercise 
of his functions, the term of the preceding President shall 
nevertheless cense, and the Supreme Kxecutive power shall 
be deposited ad interim^ in the President of the Supreme 
Court of Justice. 

This is from the translation of the Mexican Constitution, 
officially communicated to the State Department. The con- 
cluding phrase of Article 82, which contains the gist of the 
matter, reads, in the original, as follows: 

" El supremo poder ejecutivo se depositara interinamente 
en el Pi-esidente de la Suprema Corte de Justicia. " 

The literal translation of the word interinamente is, 'provis- 
ionally^ temporarily. And the provision is, that the Supreme 
Executive power shall be deposited (or, as we express it, shall 
vest) provii^ionally in the President of the Supreme Court. 

Originally, Mexico had, like the United States, a Senate 
and a Lower House, the Vice President, as with us, being . 
President of the Senate. When a change was made limiting 
the Congress to a single Chamber, the Cliief Justice was se- 
lected as Vice President, to fill any vacanc}'^ caused by death 
or other default of the President. 

The whole context of the Articles quoted, shows, that the 
arrangement which placed the Chief Justice in the Presiden- 
tial chair, was to be strictly a telnporary one. "In temporary 
default of a President," (Art. 79,) the President of the Su- 
preme Court is to take his place. 

Against his joerwza^ie/?^ occupation of the seat a jealous 
guard is fcet. In case of the President's death, the Chief 
Justice is not allowed, as under our Constitution the Vice 
President is, to serve during the rest of the Presidential 
term. "If the default of President be absolute" (Art. 80) 
a ntvj election shall he held. The policy is plain. Its spirit 



cannot be misunderstood. I^o one hut the man actually voted 
for as Premdent is, under any circumstances, permanently to 
occupy the Presidential Chair. 

There was jealousy on another point. An ambitious Pres- 
ident, hoping perhaps to hold office in perpetuity, niiglit in- 
trigue to prevent or postpone an election for his successor. 
In order to defeat any such intrigue, it was provided (Art. 82) 
that, when the term for which a President was elected had 
expired, the Executive power was to vest in the Chief Jus- 
tice. The debates in the Convention which adopted the Mex- 
ican Constitution, shew that this was the spirit and intent of 
the provision. 

Article 82, taken alone and according to its letter, undoubt- 
edly gives the Presidency temporarily to Ortega, as Chief 
Justice; the words being "if, from whatever reason, the elec- 
tion of President shall not have been made and published by 
the first of December;" and the election, in point of fact, not 
having been made and published by that day. But taken in 
connection with the articles which precede it, and in view of 
the well-known intent of its framers, and, yet more especially, 
intrepreted in the light of that policy, which distinguishes 
the Mexican Constitution from ours, namely ; that he only 
shall permanently act as President who was elected to be 
President, not he who was elected as a temporary substitute— 
it would have been a direct violation of the spirit of the Arti- 
cles quoted, had the substitute in this case become the prin- 
cipal. 

It will be observed that the words are not '• if, from what- 
ever cause, no election can be held." The contingency anti- 
cipated evidently was that in which an election, though pos- 
sible, was not held or was not published : a contingency much 
more likely to happen, through intrigue of an unscrupulous 
incumbent, in an unsettled Government like the Mexican, 
than among us. But, in the case we are considering, no man 
can doubt Juarez' great desire that it had been possible to 
hold an election ; and as little can we doubt that, if it had 
been possible, he by an overwhelming vote, would have been, 
a second time, the people's choice. 

The contingency of a foreign invasion so formidable in its 



proportions as to overrun the country, and render impossible 
the holding of an election atall, was evidently not in the minds 
of the franiers of the Constitution. Not anticipating it, they 
did not pi'ovide for it. In providing for another case they 
used words, which, it we accept the letter to the exclusion of 
the spirit, and construe the word interinamente to mean in- 
definitely^ may be claimed to justify a proceeding which was 
clearly neither forseen nor intended. 

But, in addition to this, the Mexican Congress, in view of 
the military necessities, which, when the French invasion 
began, they for^jsaw, granted extraordinary powers, suited to 
the emergency, to the President. By a law of December 11, 
1861, they decreed : 

Art. 2. The Executive is hereby fully authorized and em- 
powered to take such steps, and adopt such measures as in 
his judgment may be necessary under the existing circum- 
stances, wirhout other restrictii>ns than that of saving the in- 
dependence and integrity of ihe national territory, the form 
of government established by the constitution and the prin- 
ciples and laws of reform. 

Suppose the term of election of the Governor of a State had 
expired during the war, with no possibility to elect his suc- 
cessor, is it not certain that Juarez had the power, under that 
law, to prolong his term of office? Is it not equally certain 
that he had the power, if he saw fit to exercise it, to prolong 
his own ? Must he not have been certain that the people, 
almost unanimously, desired that prolongation ? Has it not 
since been proved, beyond all denial, that they did ? And 
ought he, from motives of false delicacy, and to satisfy a 
technical scruple, to have thwarted the national will at a mo- 
ment when every thing — even the salvation of the very Con- 
stitution from which we have been quoting — depended upon 
popular unanimity, and popular confidence in the Executive 
Head ? That would have been to reverse what we are told 
of the Sabbath, and to say : "Mexicans were made for the 
Constitution, not the Constitution for Mexicans." 

"The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." Never was 
there a more complete exemplification of the text than in the 
present case. Blindly to follow the letter of the law, under 



9 

■ • 

circumstances in which it was clearly never meant to apply, 
and thus to violate its spirit, would have been to prefer tech- 
nicality to vitality, and, in all human probability, to have 
sacrificed the life of the nation thereby. 
■ Is it strange that the Mexican people, listening to common 
sense, preferred the substance to the shadow and ratified 
Juarez' decision ? 

OKTEaA. RESIDES IN NEW TOKK. 

But the people of Mexico may have had additional cause, 
of a personal character, for their decision. 

On the 28th of December, 1864-, General Ortega made an 
application to the Mexican Government, through the Minis- 
ter of Foreign Relations. He does not give the text of that ap- 
plication in his pamphlet; but we find it in the Congressional 
Document already quoted, (TsTo. 73) page 30. He applied for 
"license to repair to the interior of the Republic, or elsewhere 
within Mexican coasts, to continue to defend with arms the 
independence of Mexico." And he added : "As the interior 
States are occupied by the invaders, I may have to pass some 
sea or foreign territory to realize my desires, and I hope you 
will inform the citizen President of this." 

Two days afterwards, to wit: under date December 30, 
1864, his request was acceded to, leave being granted him to 
"proceed either directly or by traversing the sta, or tiirough 
some foreign country, to points of the Mexican Republic not 
occupied by the enemy, to continue to defend the national 
independence, &c.;" but not a word about going to a foieign 
country, there to remain. 

Yet the said General Gonzales Ortega, leaving Mexico in 
February, 1865, and passing, by way of Sante Fe, to New York, 
instead of proceeding to any part of Mexico, there to fight 
for her independence, has absented himself even to the present 
time, throughout these darkest days of his country's history. 

Which of the two men were the people of Mexico more 
likely to desire as their standard bearer ? — the patriot who 
has remained faithfully at his post and endured, even to this 
hour, the burden and heat of the day, or the man who, under 
cover of a license to proceed through some foreign country to 



10 

points of the Mexican Kepnblic, there to defend her indepen- 
dence, went direct to New York, and has since spent his time 
chiefly in that city, leaving his country to her fate. 

But these are trifles. Tlie fact is, indeed, that the Mexican 
people have no longer any confidence in Ortega; but even 
if that had been otherwise, the national decision would have 
been the same ; in favor ot their long tried leader, Benito 
Juarez, and of the spirit of their Federal Constitution. 

ANIMtrS AND OBJECT OF OKTEGA's PAMPHLET. 

This appeal, by a Mexican General, to a foreign people, 
against the unanimous verdict of his own countrymen, is a 
scheme fraught with unmixed mischief, and not even redeem- 
ed, as many unprincipled schemes are, by the poor excuse of 
possible success in attaining its ostensible object. Mrs. Lavi- 
nia Janetta Horton Ryves, a recent claimant for royal rights 
in the English Law Courts, was as likely to dethrone Queen 
Victoria, a«5*General Ortega is, to displace President Juarez. 
No sane man even slightly conversant with the facts, for a mo- 
ment imagines that he can. That is not the object of Ortega's 
pamphlet. If it had been, that document would have been 
published in Spanish and in Mexico, not in English, to cir- 
culate among us, who have no voice in the matter. Its ob- 
ject is, injury, by base indirection, to a noble cause. Its 
object is, to create doubts, throughout this country, in the 
minds of the uninformed, as to the stability of executive au- 
thority in Mexico, for what ulterior purpose we need not 
enquire. 

Suffice it that the whole affair is the flimsiest pretext ; an 
effort, transparent as glass, to get up the idea that there is a 
contest for the Mexican Presidency. A contest 1 If there 
be, it is one in which there is the Mexican nation including 
all its ofiicials civil and military, duly represented near our 
Government by its accredited Minister, on the one side ; — 
and, on the other, nine absentees, without present position or 
influence, led by a Mexican General, brave very likely, and 
who in former days may have done good service in the field 
— as Benedict Arnold did, .before he turned traitor to his 
country. 



APPENBIX. 



The following are letters, or extracts from letters, y^rjovjsly address- 
ed, from every Governor of a State in the Republio of Mexico, now act; 
ing as such. It will be seen that every one approves Juarez's course. 

Letter from General Diaz, Governor and Military Command- 
ant of thr State OF Oaxaca and Commander of the Eastern 
Division, to the Mexican Minister. 

{Extract.) 

Tlalpa, May 9, 1866. 
Senor Don Ma,ti^s Romero, 

Washington : 

* * * I have caused the publication here of the la|^ 

Decrees of the Governraeni. 

The first, with reference to the extension of the Constitutional pe- 
riod of the President;, has been received wjth great satisfacuoa. It is 
unnecessary for me to speak of my own view?, for they are always 
*mapiftsted in my cond,ucr, jyhich consists io' entire obedience, or in 
entire withdrawal from oflScial posicion, when my convictions do not 
permit ray concurrence in the policy pursued. 

In the present case the ttep taken by the Pre3ide,nt is, in my judg- 
ment, not only opportune, but the only course that i? consistent with 
the salvation of our cause. 

The decree which orders the submission to trial of General Ortega 
and other officers similarly liable, is, in my judgment, well founded in 
thf ordinances and practice of war. 

My opinion with leference to the strict maintenance of the ordi- 
nances, is wcU known ; they should always be rigorously applied. 

I believe, therefore, that the Government has only done what was 
its duty in this matter. 

I remain your attentive friend and ^.ervant, 

PORFIRIO DIAZ. 



Letter from. General Garcia. Governor of Vera Cruz and Sec- 
ond IN Command of the Eastern Division, to President Juarez. 

Tlacotalpam, February 26, 1866. 
Very Dear Sir and much Respected Friend : * * 

1 informed you, in my letter of the Hih. instant, that on the 1^, 



12 

before I received your official decree, and other documents prolonging 
your term, I had sent oat a circular to aU the authorities within the 
lines to asc rtaiii the vviil of the people. 

I have received assurances from every quarter acknowledging your 
right to continue in the Presidency of the republic, till another con- 
stitutioaal election caa be held. 

I anri now receiving the mmifestoes and am publishing them in the 
official bulletin, of which I send you copies. I also send some to Mr. 
Horn ro, for any g lod us^ he may make of them in the United States, 
and I will CO tinue to do so by eveiy opportunity. When complete, 
I will despa cli them to the department of government, for due con- 
sid-rrttion. 

I repent to you what I said in my list, that is, though I cannot 
send you the acts now, you my rest assurred that all the eastern line 
will vot-i in the same way. 

Nothing new has occurred since my letter of the 14th. 

I think Gdueral Di-)Z is in Tlajiaco, though I am not sure of it, for, 
in spite of all my effoits, I have not been able to commuaicate with 
him. 

In the hope t^^at you will continue to favor me with your welcome 
letter?, I remain your fiiend and servant, 

ALEJANDRO GARCIA. 
Senor Don Bexito Juarez, 

President of the Mexican Republic. 



The next 1-tter is froTi the victor in the late encounter on the Rio 
Gr uide, in which a rich train, worth from one to two millions of 
dollars was captured. 

Letter from Genev.al Escobedo, Governor of the State of New 
Leon and Commander in-Chief of the Forces on the Rio 
Grande, to the Mexican Minister. 

{Extract.) 

Rip Blanco, April 26, 1866. 
Senor Don Matias Romero, etc., etc., 

Washington^ D. C. : 
* * * * We are all here perfectly united 

and decid« d upon the Presidential question, and ihe recent decrees 
' have been received without question whatever, all being disposed to 



13 

continue obeying and respecting the Government of President Juarez. 

The same is the case in the interior, and the disposition is particu- 
larly mHiiitested by all the liberal papeis wlwcb, wiih so much valor 
and constancy have continued dtif'endiog the na'ioual cause, even ia 
many cases in places occupied by the forces of the so-called empire. 
All of our news from the interior is satifefac'ory. On all sides the 
public spirit is rising, and the adhesions to the farcical Empire 
changing to the reverse. 

What we require U arras, and particularly sabres for our cavalry. 
It is impossible that our soldierc!, armed only with an old musket, or 
a rifle, can compete with the French cavalry, or tiie Ausiiian, or tven 
the traitors, who are all well mounted, hrmed and equipped. Never- 
theless, we do not avoidthe comi at, and many times have ratasu.ed 
arms with them with good success. 

I am your attentive and obedient servant, 

MARIANO ESCOBEDO. 



From the Governor and Military Commandant of the State of 

coahaila. 

Office op the Governor and Military Commandant op 

THE State of Coahuila de Zaragoza. 

As this government and command has received the supreme decree 
of the 8ih of November last, prolonging the fuiictions of the citizen 
President of ttic republic for the specified time, during the present 
state of the war, aud those of the powers of the person who m .y be 
president of the court of justice, for the time necessary to the object 
of its prolongation, and sees that it is in conformity with the ?piiit of 
tli3 constitu.iun, and to the interests of the reputlic, agree, ble to the 
na ional wi 1, and paiticula)iy to this State, it theiefore decrees that 
it be fulfilled, aod for that pu pose has published it this day to vha 
authorities and forces under its command, and will endeavor to give 
it the greatest publicity in the State. 

I have the honor to communicate this to you, for your information 
and that of the chief magistrate of the nation. 

Independence and liberty! Rosas, December 8, 186.'5. 

A. S. VIESCA. 

Eduardo Muzquiz, Acting Secretary. 

The Citizen Minister of Belalions and Government, Chihuahua. 



14 
Fn.oM THB Governor and Military Commander of the State of 

SiNALOA. 

Government and Military Department of the 

State of Sinaloa. 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt from your Department 
of the circulars of the 28th of October and 8th of Nuveraber, aod of 
the two decrees issued on that last date. 

These supreme resolutions shall be rigidly enforced by this State 
under my command, since in it is involve! nothing less than the firm 
establishment of the supreme authority of the nation; and likewise, 
as is well understood, the responsibility incurred by those soldiers of 
the Republic who have abandoned the cause in its hour of need, and 
gone abioad to foreign lands. 

Orders have been issued to circulate these welcome resolution? 
through all the Districts, and to have them promulgated in genr-ral 
orders to the United Br:gAdes of Sinaloa and Jalisco. I communicate 
these measures to you, in order that through your means tiiey may 
come to the knowledge of the Supreme Magistrate of the Nation. 

Independence and Liberty! Concordia, December 24, 1866. 

DOMINGO RUBI. 
F. Sepulveda, Secretary. 
To the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chihuahua. 



From the Governor and Military Commander of the State of 

SONORA. 

I have received with posiiivy satisfaction, the two decrees issued by 
the President under date of the 8th of November last, and the circur 
lar from your Department with which you were pleaded to accompany 
them, the first of them relative to the prolong ition of the term of the 
Snpieme Magistrate of the Nation, as long as the condition of the 
foreign war in which we are involved, does not permit a new consti- 
tutional election to be had, and the second relative, to the prolonga- 
tion of the term of the Supreme Magistrate of the Nation, and the 
mode of supplying his place, if in the meantime he should happen to 
fail. 

The anomalous circumstances in which the Republic unfortunately 
finds itself, the deficiency or silence of the general Constitution, on a 
point of such vital interest to the nation, the spirit of Articles 78, 79 
80 and 82 of the same fundamental Code, and finally, the collection 



15 

of powers bestowed oq the Executive by the Legislative Body of the 
Mexicaa Unioo, under date of the 11th of December, 1861, afford 
superabundanl ground and justification for the first of the above 
mentioned supreme lesolut ons, in which the enemies of our country 
can never see anything else than the uufiinciiing zeal of the President 
for the mainteuauce of legitimate authority, the most mature exami- 
nation in his measures, and above all, hisl^ingular abnegation in facing 
a situation so stormy as the present one, without any other recom- 
pense than the satisfaction always caused by the fulfilment of duty, 
however onerous it may be. 

Independence and Liberty! Camp iu La Noria, Ftb. 1, 1866. 

J. GARCIA MORALES. 

D, Elias, Acting Secretary. 

To the Minister of Foreign Relations and Government^ Paso 
del Norte. 



Letter trom Major-Gsneral J. M. J. Carvajal, Governor of thb 
State of Tamaulipas. 

Santa Rosalia, June 15, 1860. 
Senor Don Matias Romero, 

Washington : 

My Dear Sir: I have now reached the territory of Tamaulipas, 
and find the people here full of good feeling and resolved not only to 
continue their sacrifices in defence of the national cause, hut convinced 
of the necessity of an absolute obedience to the legitimate authorities 
and deterffiined to frown down all such ambitious plans as those of 
Ortega which only serve to divide us and to aid the partisans of the 
intervention. 

I therefore find that all are willing to obey me as Governor and 
Military Commandant of this State by virtue of the appointment of 
President Juarez, who is recognized as the lawful aud legitimate 
Preside'nt of the Republic without, there being in all the State of 
Tamaulipas — as there scarcely is in all the Republic — a single person 
who does not approve the decree extending the term of office of the 
President until a new election can take place. 

* 4: * He * « * 

I am very truly your friend and servant, 

JOSE M. J. CARVAJAL,* 



16 

Letter from Maj. Gen. Nicolas De REauLEs, Governor of the 
State of Michoacan and Commander is-Chief of the Cen- 
tral Armv. 

Uruapan, May 7, 1866. " 
To President Don Benito Juarez, 

Deak Sir: I hive received tLe two Decrees issued by the De- 
partment of Fore'gii Relations and of Govornmeot on the 8th of 
Deci-niber of last yea ■, the ooe extending the term of the Presidency 
of the Republic, which you fo worthily occupy, until the circum- 
stances of the coant'y shall permit a new appeal to the popular 
sulFrage; and the other declaring the responsibility wh'ch has been 
incurred by General Ortega, in residing for many raoaths in a foreign 
county without the aathoiiz ition for that purpose of the Depart- 
ment of War. B »th D crees have ben well received by the forces 
under mv command, and according to the news I am daily receiving, 
by all the inhabitaiits of Michuacan who take part in the defence of 
our country. 

All comprehend, what is really the truth, that is to say, that you 
are ihe one who for a thousand reasons should continue at the head 
of the nation during this terrible ciisis, during which what is most 
necrssary is, that he who occupies the high position in which you 
are phced should be able to count, as yon can count, upon the entire 
confidence of the people, and which confidence it is felt cannot be 
so lully reposed in any other person. 

On the othei' hand it cannot be doubted that the powers are ample 
under which you have taken these steps, and that ihey are in no man- 
ner opposed to the fundamental law, fjr the Consiiturion has no 
provision for the case when it fchould be entirely impossible for an 
election to be held, as now by reas in of the foreign invasion. 

With reference to Geneial Ort^ga the declaiation as to his re- 
sponsibiity is only too well deserved in having abandoned as he has, 
m a manner so contrary to his antecedents, the defence of his coun- 
try at a time when it most required the services of all good patriots 
and especially of all having any experience in the career of aims. 
******* 4e 

I am your obedient servant, 

NICOLAS DS REGULES. 



17 

From Colonel Don Gregoria Mendez, Governor and Millitary 
Commander of the State op Tabasco, to President Juarez. 

San Juan Bautista, February 2, 1866. 
Most Distinguished and Respected Sir : I have before me your 
two very acceptable favors of the 2'7th of October aad 9th of Nov- 
ember last. * ***** 
******* 

Your determination in regard to General Diaz, who is now fighting 
in Oaxaca, shall be duly respected by me and my subalterns. That 
general is truly worthy of his former position by his effective- 
ness, his valor, his honesty, and his energy, particularly as his disap- 
pearance depended upon causes over which he had no control. 

I shall take great pleasure in having the decrees sent me by Mr. 
Romero published to-morrow; they have my entire approval and 
that of the State. No person more worthy, or with greater hopes 
of the nation, could have been trusted with the supreme command, 
than yourself, and at a time when a change might have caused * want 
of confidence, to say the least. The trial of Mr. Ortega is an act that 
gives power to the government from its principle of morality, as it im- 
presses upon our society and its great men the necessity of attending 
to their duties, and teaches them the gt eat impropriety of derelictions 
which they often commit, thinking to be shielded by the elevation of 
their positions. 

******* 

I conclude with an affectionate greeting, wishing you peace and 
prosperity, and subscribing myself your obedient servant, &c., &c. 

G. MENDEZ. 
The President of the Republic. 

Dow Benito Juarez, Chihuahua, 



Extract of Letter from the Governor of Chiapas to the Mexi- 
can Consul in San Francisco. 

Consulate of Mexico, 

San Francisco^ April 13, 1866. 
Under date of the 15th of February last, the Governor of the 
State of Chiapas, Don J. Pantaleon Dominguez, writes to me as fol- 
lows : 

3 



18 

" Informed of the contents of your favor of the 15th December last, 
and of the decrees issued by the Supreme Government of the Republic 
relative to the prorogation of the functions of the President of the 
Republic, and to the responsibility incurred by the citizen Gsneral 
Jesus G. Ortega. I have to-day ordered the publication and circula- 
tion of the said Decrees in the State under my command, and that 
they shall be brought to the knowledge of the Governors of the States 
of Tobasco and Vera Cruz, to whom also I have .transcribed your 
said letter and sent a copy of the letter that you addressed to the first 
magistrate of the nation." 

I have the honor to transcribe the same to you, that you may be 
pleased to bring the same to the knowledge of the Chief Magistrate 
of the Republic. 

I renew to you the assurances of my esteem and consideration. 

JOSE A. GODOY. 

To the Citizen Sebastian Leedo be Tejada, 

Minister of Foreign Helations and of Government, 

Paso del Norte. 



Letter from General Diego Alvarez, Governor of the Statk 

OF Guerrero. 

La Provdencia, January 21, 1866. 
To President Don Benito Juarez : 

* * * * I have been well pleased to see the two decrees 
issued by the Department of Foreign Relations and of Government 
on the 8th of November last, the one extending the term of the Pre- 
sidency which you worthily occupy until it shall be possible to 
again consult the national will by means of an election, and the other 
determining that General Gonzalez Ortega shall be submitted to 
trial. 

Both measures are well justified by the reasons upon which they 
are based and which are fully explained in the circular of Mr. Lerdo 
which accompanies them. So far I do not believe there has been a 
single good Mexican in this State who has expressed any other opinion 
than in favor of these decrees, which the critical circumstances of the 
Republic have imperiously required. 

* 'K 'K H* 

DIEGO ALVAREZ. 



19 . 

Letter from the Political Chief of the Territory of Lower 
California to the Mexican Consul in San Francisco. 

Mexican Consulate, San Francisco, 

San Francisco, January 24, 1866. 

Citizen Antonio Pedrin, political chief of the Territory of Lower 
California, writes to me from San Jose, under date of the 16th of the 
present month, as follows : 

"With your acceptable communication dated the 27th of Septem- 
ber last, I have received the copies of the official journal which you 
had the goodness to enclose to me, and in which were published the 
decrees issued by the President of the Republic through the medium 
of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Government, the one 
relative to the prolongation of the term of the President, and the 
other to the responsibilities of General Jesus G. Ortega. 

" In acknowledging this communication, I confess with pleasure 
that in my opinion the President could not have adopted any measure 
more acceptable, because though it may affect certain partialities in- 
terested in a change of administration, yet there is nothing more cer- 
tain, than that no one of our public men could fill the immense void 
that would be left by the absence from power of the father of the 
Mexican Republic. In him we know that we ever find united, faith, 
integrity, and constancy, fully supported by the national sentiment; 
without him, God alone knows what would become of Mexico under 
present circumstances." 

And I have the honor to transmit this to you, in order that you 
may be pleased to communicate it to the President for his information. 

I renew to you the assurance of my distinguished consideration 
and esteem. 

JOSE A. GODOY. 
To Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, Minister of Foreign Affairs and 

Government, Paso del Norte. 



The following are from distinguished military officers. General 
Corona was victor in a late battle fought near Mazatlan. 

Letter from Major General Ramon Corona, commanding in 
Sinaloa and Jalisca. 

Headquarters of the Republican Arm^, 
United Brigades of Sinaloa and Jalisco. 
The circulars and supreme decrees issued from your Department on 



20 

on the 28th of October and the 8th of November, have been received 
by me. 

The common sense of the nation will see in these resolutions the 
confirmation of the supveme authority of the nation, and the assurance 
that the faithful defenders of the national independence are not con- 
founded with those who, though bearing the name of the soldiers of 
the republic, abandon its banner in the hour of trial, and go abroad 
into foreign lands. 

These supreme resolutions will be made known in general orders to 
the regimeijts composing the United Brigades of Sinaloa and Jalisco. 

I commuuicate this information to you, in order that by your means 
it may be brought to the knowledge of the supreme magistrate of the 
nation. 

Independence and liberty ! Concordia, December 24, 1865. 

RAMON CORONA. 

To the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Q-overnment, Chihuahua. 



Letter from Maj. Gen. Juan Alvarez, Commander-in-Chief of 
THE Southern Military Division. 

La Providencia, January 20, 1866. 

To President Don Benito Juarez. 

Dear Sir and Friend •.**** 
The two de rees issued by you on the 8th of November last, ap- 
pear to me to be both just and necessary. The extension of your 
presidential term until the circumstances of the country, now invaded 
by a foreign enemy, shall permit a new election, is the only solution 
of the difiiculties that are presented, and it is a measure which is, 
without doubt, within the ample faculties which have been given to 
you by the natiooal representatives, nor can it be said that it is op- 
posed to the Constitution, which contemplates at least the possibility 
of an election. 

On the other hand if you had delivered the place to the Vice Pres- 
ident, the latter without any legal instalment, so long as an election 
cannot take place, as it cannot for a long time, would have to con- 
inue indefinitely occupying the Presidency, when the spirit of the 
Constitution is that he shall only take charge of that oflSce tempo- 
rarily and in a provisional manner. These reasons, which are well 
explained in the Circular of Mr. Lerdo, and the well merited con- 
fidence which you enjoy have caused this decree, which I have my- 
self long desired to see issued, to be very well received in this Siate. 



21 

With reference to the responsibility incurred by Senor Gonzalez 
Ortega, I have notbing to add to the reasons set forth by the Govern- 
ment in declaring the same. In my judgment tbey are conclusive, 
and however much I may lament the errors oT a Mexican who has 
heretofore done good service for his country, the decree appears to 
me to be just. 
* ** * « % * * 

JUAN ALVAREZ. 



Many letters, from General Ortega's former friend?, were addressed 
to him condemning his course and vindicating that of President Juarez. 
Of course General Ortega suppressed them. We select two as speci- 
mens, both from members of the last Mexican Congress. Senor Zarco 
was also, in 1861, Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

From Senor Zarco to Senor Ortega. 

(Slxtracts.) 

New York, February 24, 1866. 
To Senor D. Jesus Gonzalez Ortega : 

Mt very Esteemed Friend: I have received to-day a communica- 
tion from you, dated at San Antonio, Texas, the 3d of the present 
month, in which you ask me what course I have adopted in reference 
to the destruction of the legal order of things, and what I have done 
t© manifest my approval or disapprobation, as the case may be, of the 
decrees of the 8th of November last, in which Senor Juarez declared 
that he would continue in the cflBce of President of the Mexican Re- 
public. You base your interrogatory on the right which the nation 
has at all times to know what the course is of its public men, &nd on 
the obligation which you think you have to collect the proper informa- 
tion. 

As you directed your interrogatory to me, in the belief that I was a 
Deputy to the General Congress, I might limit my answer to inform- 
ing you that I hold no such position, nor in fact any other public 
position whatever, since the term expired in 1864, for which I was 
elected representative by the districts of vai iDU!^ States. I am, therefoi e 
no more than a Mexican who, having held the pobition with which 
the people honored me, has preferred to emigrate to a foreign country 
rather than to submit to the French inttrveniion ; which resolution I 
took when my public chaiacter ceased, and after pursuading myself 
that I had no opportunity to serve the national cause in any maaner 



22 

But in courtesy to you, in cons'deration'*of our old relations of 
friendship, and because I never made any mystery of my opinions, I 
believe it to be my duty to exp -ess my ideas more at length in this 
letter, which is no more than that of a simple citizen. 

Even though I had a public character and I were performing its 
functions in our country, I could not recognize in you or in any man, 
no matter how high might'be his authority, tne right to make me the in- 
terrogatory which you have addressed to me ; because if public men 
should give an account to the nation of their actions, there is a legal 
method established for the purpose from which no one should depart. 
******* 

As to approving or disapproving here of the acts of the government 
of Mexico, the representative of our nationality, I should deem myself 
to be wanting in my duty if I raised controversies that only served 
to give strength to the foreign usurpers. My only desire is the in- 
dependence of our country ; and in presence of this sacred object, all 
else appears to me pitiful and contemptible. Here I should only be 
employed in crying out, as long as ever I could, that the intervention 
and monarchy are the most atrocious injustice, and the most scandal- 
ous iniquity ; and that the people of Mexico, oppressed, conquered, 
unfortunate, never recognises a foreign yoke, but struggles to break it 
and restore its republican institutions. Such I believe to be the duty 
of Mexicans externally without thinking of- domestic dissensions. 
« The decree by which Senor Juarez prolongs his presidential term, 
appears to me to be in conformity with the faculties conferred upon 
him by the Congress in order to meet the circumstances of the occa- 
sion, since the issuing of such a decree is not enumerated in the re- 
strictions imposed upon him. He can do everything, except what 
these restricdons prcBiibif, so I uiiderstmd the spirit which actuated 
the Congress, and with this understanding at least, I proceeded to 
draw up the resolutions which have become law and to support ihem 
in debate, as a member of the committee oa relations. 

As a simple citizen, therefore, I recogniz • Senor Juarez, as the legi- 
timate President of the Mexican Republic, and I desire the gr^-atest 
possible prestige and support for his government, whose existence, in 

the opinions of the world, is identified with our nationality. 

* * * * * * * 

I contemplate the affdrs of our country with serenity, without de- 
spairing of its future. I have no other aspiration than to see Mexico 
free and independent. My opinion is the more impartial, as having 
nothing either to fear or hope from yourself or from Senor Juarez. I 



23 

entertain the conviction that, as soon as our independence is once 
established, we who have been public men should yield our places to 
newer and more vigorous men, inasmuch as civil strifes rapidly waste 
and superannuate those who take part in them. 
I am, as ever, your affectionate friend and servant, 

FRANCISCO ZARCO. 



From Senor Robert to Senor Gozalez Ortega. 
To Senor D. Jesus Gonzalez Ortega, present. 

New York, February 27, 1866. 

Dear Sir : With the documents accompanying it, I have received 
a circular from you dated at San Antonio de Bejar, Texas, the 3d of 
the present month, in which you ask me what course I have pursued 
as a deputy in reference to the decree of the 8th of November last, 
issued at El Paso by the constitutional government, prolonging the 
presidential term of Senor Juarez, until the circumstances of the war 
permit a suitable election to be held. Believing that the constitu- 
tional government has acted within the scope of the powers which 
conformably to the constitution the last Congress conferred upon it, 
and to which Congress I had the honor to belong, it does not seem 
to me therefore that the aforesaid action should be called in question, 
which, under present circumstances, as you yourself have indicated in 
your manifesto, would be unpatriotic. 

I have made the foregoing declaration to you, not because I thought 
you had any right to inquire as to my conduct, but because my opin- 
ions, which are founded on the law, are public, and my consideration 
for yourself induces me to comply with your request. 

I remain, &c., &c. 

CIPRIANO ROBERT. 

Similar documents might be multiplied indefinitely ; but no addi- 
tion is needed to what is already superabundant proof. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



015 835 895 5 4 



